Speaker Background and MIT Research Projects

• Speaker spent 11 years as researcher at MIT working in big data labs
• Focus on using data science to study physical world and solve societal problems
• Big data field analyzes massive data pools using computational tools to find patterns/trends
• Data serves as "extraordinary storyteller" unveiling hidden narratives in everyday life

Trash Track Project

• Goal: understand waste management system - "where does your trash go?"
• Tracked items: coffee cups, flip phones from early 2000s, bagels, newspapers
• Method: installed small sensors into trash pieces, threw into waste system
• Results: visualization showed highly inefficient system with inherent brokenness
• Data revealed system problems that wouldn't be visible without sensor journalism
• Tracked single pieces of trash moving through Seattle, across state and country over weeks/months

Sewage Analysis Project (Biobot Analytics)

• Created robots that dive into sewers to sample wastewater
• Technology spun out by Biobot Analytics
• Goal: turn sewers into modern health observatories
• Specific focus: study opioids in sewage to understand consumption patterns in cities
• Applications: helps cities understand usage patterns, allocate resources, measure program effectiveness over time
• Demonstrates big data presence "everywhere, even in your toilet"

Transition to Food Industry

• Speaker left MIT in 2017 to pursue food passion
• Started company "Family Dinner" with husband
• Mission: create community around local food and growers
• Using data analytics, automation, technology to build distributed network of local farms
• Approach similar to MIT lab work but applied to food system

Current Food System Problems

• System optimized solely for corporate profit, not feeding people or taste
• Detrimental effects at all levels:
  • Antibiotics and pesticides harmful to health
  • Price pressure forcing small farms out of business
  • Farms look like factories, not traditional farms
  • Poor food quality and taste

Food Waste Crisis

• 30-40% of food is wasted/thrown away
• Equals 1.6 billion tons annually
• Economic cost: $1.2 trillion per year
• Waste occurs at multiple points:
  • Fields (not picking "sexiest" potatoes)
  • Transit and warehouses
  • Grocery stores
  • Consumer kitchens (spotty bananas deemed unappetizing)

Tale of Two Tomatoes Comparison

Industrial Tomato (Tomato #1)

• Found in: sub shops, supermarkets, fast food joints
• Treatment: cocktail of dozen pesticides
• Travel distance: at least 1,600 miles to reach consumer
• Process: picked green and hard, gassed during transport to appear red and ripe
• Result: entirely without taste despite agricultural innovation

Local Tomato (Tomato #2)

• Grown by: Luke Mahoney and family at Brookford Farm, Canterbury, New Hampshire
• Process: planted, sat in sun, picked (simple backstory)
• Travel distance: ~70 miles to plate
• Experience: warm from sun, richly red, smells like dirt, nostalgic/magical taste
• Quality: incomparable taste and flavor

Local Animal Products

• Luke's family: 60 cows using traditional methods
• Approach: pasture raised, no hormones, no antibiotics, hay for days
• Philosophy: treating cows like cows, not science experiments
• Methods: same as grandfather's generation
• Optimization: for taste and humanity, not profit/price

Existing Local Food Solutions and Limitations

Farmers Markets

• Consumer benefits: beautiful bounty, supporting local farms, trying diverse products
• Farmer risks: wake at 4am, pack truck, hire team, no guarantees of moving product
• Variables affecting success: weather (unpredictable in New England), other x-factors
• Farmers "roll the dice" every market day

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)

• Model: customers pay upfront, bearing financial risk
• Farmer benefits: guaranteed sales
• Customer challenges: must pick up share, limited product diversity
• Problem example: receiving 25 pounds of rutabaga in winter with no usage plan

Family Dinner's Three Core Innovations

1. Subscription-Based E-Commerce Platform

• Creates consistent demand for farmers year-round
• Orders process weekly, customers opt out instead of opting in
• Maintains same number of orders week to week
• Removes geographical limitations for farmers
• Eliminates dependence on local market attendance

2. Demand Forecasting Analytics

• Uses analytics to forecast future demand
• Informs farmers: how much to harvest near-term, what to plant going forward
• Example: 200 orders Monday = buy exactly 200 heads broccoli, 200 pieces salmon
• Eliminates waste by ensuring supply meets exact demand
• Future planning: can tell farmers in June need for 400 pounds asparagus, 500 pounds berries weekly
• Provides confidence farmers will sell everything grown

3. Route Optimization Software

• Solves "traveling salesman" problem
• Fleet of workers for last-mile delivery
• Brings products directly to customer doors
• Requires data science and capable team

Company Core Values

• People first: building community around food, lovers and growers
• Support small farms
• Zero waste: eliminate food waste that "feels wrong"
• Taste: must be perfect summer tomato quality or "why bother"

Business Model and Vision

• Work with local farms to bring products directly to customer doors
• Connect consumers directly to farmers
• Create holistic food system
• Vision: extend model beyond Boston/New England nationwide
• Goal: create distributed network of local farms across country
• Connect farmers with food lovers nationwide
• Belief: eating local food is "revolutionary act"
• Invitation for audience to join movement